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THE ADVENTURES OF 
POOR MRS. QUACK 








< ‘ Marshes must be something like swamps, ’ ’ ventured 
Peter Rabbit. Frontispiece. See page 19 . 



BURGESS TRADE QUADDIES MARK 
*■ Wje JSebtime H’torpjJBoofcs 


THE ADVENTURES OF 
POOR MRS. QUACK 

BY 

THORNTON W. BURGESS 

Author of “Old Mother West Wind,” “The Bedtime 
Story-Books,” etc. 


With Illustrations by 
HARRISON CADY 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1917 



Copyright, 1917, 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 
All rights reserved 


Published, March, 1917 



Iprftttets 

8. J. Pabkhill <fc Co., Boston, U.8.A. 


©CU4G0093 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 

I. 

Peter Rabbit Becomes Ac- 



quainted with Mrs. Quack 

1 

II. 

Mrs. Quack Is Distrustful 

7 

III. 

Mrs. Quack Tells About Her 



Home 

12 

IV. 

Mrs. Quack Continues Her Story 

18 

V. 

Peter Learns More of Mrs. 



Quack ’s Troubles . 

24 

VI. 

Farmer Brown’s Boy Visits the 



Smiling Pool .... 

30 

VII. 

Mrs. Quack Returns . 

36 

VIII. 

Mrs. Quack Has a Good Meal and 



a Rest 

42 

IX. 

Peter Rabbit Makes an Early 



Call 

48 

X. 

How Mr. and Mrs. Quack Started 



North ..... 

54 

XI. 

The Terrible, Terrible Guns 

60 

XII. 

What Did Happen to Mr. Quack 

68 


Vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB PAGE 

XIII. Peter Tells About Mrs. Quack 74 

XIV. Sammy Jay’s Plan to Help 

Mrs. Quack . . . .79 

XV. The Hunt for Mr. Quack . 85 

XVI. Sammy Jay Sees Something 

Green 91 

XVII. Mr. Quack Is Found at Last . 97 

XVIII. Sammy Jay Sends Mrs. Quack 

to the Swamp . . . 103 
XIX. Jerry Muskrat’s Great Idea . 109 

XX. Happy Days for Mr. and Mrs. 

Quack 114 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


“ Marshes must be something like 
swamps,” ventured Peter Rab- 
bit ..... Frontispiece * 
Several times she circled around, 

HIGH OVER THE SMILING POOL . PAGE 37 
“ Some folks call him Alligator 

and some just ’Gator ” . . “ 57 

{ c Just tuck that fact away in that 

EMPTY HEAD OF YOURS AND NEVER 

saycan’t” . . . . “ 75 

“ Yes,” said he in a low voice, “ I 

am Mr. Quack ” . . “ 101 

Those were happy days indeed for 
Mr. and Mrs. Quack in the pond 
of Paddy the Beaver 


119 



THE ADVENTURES OP 
POOR MRS. QUACK 

i 

PETER RABBIT BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH 
MRS. QUACK 

Make a new acquaintance every time you can ; 
You’ll find it interesting and a very helpful plan. 

I T means more knowledge. You 
cannot meet any one without learn- 
ing something from him if you 
keep your ears open and your eyes open. 
Every one is at least a little different 
from every one else, and the more 
people you know, the more you may 
learn. Peter Rabbit knows this, and 
that is one reason he always is so eager 
to find out about other people. He had 


2 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

left Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon in 
the Green Forest and had headed for 
the Smiling Pool to see if Grandfather 
Frog was awake yet. He had no idea 
of meeting a stranger there, and so you 
can imagine just how surprised he was 
when he got in sight of the Smiling 
Pool to see some one whom he never 
had seen before swimming about there. 
He knew right away who it was. He 
knew that it was Mrs. Quack the Duck, 
because he had often heard about her. 
And then, too, it was very clear from 
her looks that she was a cousin of the 
ducks he had seen in Farmer Brown’s 
dooryard. The difference was that 
while they were big and white and 
stupid - looking, Mrs. Quack was 
smaller, brown, very trim, and looked 
anything but stupid. 

Peter was so surprised to see her in 
the Smiling Pool that he almost forgot 


PETER RABBIT MEETS MRS. QUACK 3 

to be polite. I am afraid be stared in 
a very impolite way as be hurried to 
tbe edge of tbe bank. “ I suppose,” 
said Peter, “ that you are Mrs. Quack, 
but I never expected to see you unless 
I should go over to the Big River, and 
that is a place I never have visited and 
hardly expect to because it is too far 
from the dear Old Briar-patch. You 
are Mrs. Quack, aren’t you? ” 

“ Yes,” replied Mrs. Quack, “ and 
you must be Peter Rabbit. I’ve heard 
of you very often.” All the time Mrs. 
Quack was swimming back and forth 
and in little circles in the most uneasy 
way. 

“ I hope you’ve heard nothing but 
good of me,” replied Peter. 

Mrs. Quack stopped her uneasy 
swi mmin g for a minute and almost 
smiled as she looked at Peter. 66 The 
worst I have heard is that you are very 


4 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

curious about other people’s affairs,” 
said she. 

Peter looked a wee, wee bit foolish, 
and then he laughed right out. “I guess 
that is true enough,” said he. “ 1 like 
to learn all I can, and how can I learn 
without being curious? I’m curious 
right now. I’m wondering what brings 
you to the Smiling Pool when you never 
have been here before. It is the last 
place in the world I ever expected to 
find you.” 

“ That’s why I’m here,” replied Mrs. 
Quack. “ I hope others feel the same 
way. I came here because I just had 
to find some place where people 
wouldn’t expect to find me and so 
wouldn’t come looking for me. Little 
Joe Otter saw me yesterday on the Big 
River and told me of this place, and so, 
because I just had to go somewhere, I 
came here.” 


PETER RABBIT MEETS MRS. QUACK 5 

Peter’s eyes opened very wide with 
surprise. “ Why,” he exclaimed, “ I 
should think you would be perfectly 
safe on the Big River! I don’t see how 
any harm can possibly come to you out 
there.” 

The words were no sooner out of 
Peter’s mouth than a faint bang 
sounded from way off towards the Big 
River. Mrs. Quack gave a great start 
and half lifted her wings as if to fly. 
But she thought better of it, and then 
Peter saw that she was trembling all 
over. 

“ Did you hear that? ” she asked in 
a faint voice. 

Peter nodded. “ That was a gun, a 
terrible gun, but it was a long way from 
here,” said he. 

“ It was over on the Big River,” said 
Mrs. Quack. “ That’s why it isn’t safe 
for me over there. That’s why I just 


6 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

had to find some other place. Oh, dear, 
the very sound of a gun sets me to 
shaking and makes my heart feel as if 
it would stop beating. Are you sure 
I am perfectly safe here? ” 

“ Perfectly,” spoke up Jerry Musk- 
rat, who had been listening from the 
top of the Big Bock, where he was 
lunching on a clam, “ unless you are 
not smart enough to keep out of the 
clutches of Beddy Fox or Old Man 
Coyote or Hooty the Owl or Bedtail the 
Hawk.” 

“ I’m not afraid of them ,” declared 
Mrs. Quack. “ It’s those two-legged 
creatures with terrible guns I’m afraid 
of,” and she began to swim about more 
uneasily than ever. 


n 


MRS. QUACK IS DISTRUSTFUL 

J ERRY MUSKRAT thinks there is 
no place in the world like the Smil- 
ing Pool. So, for the matter of 
that, does Grandfather Frog and also 
Spotty the Turtle. You see, they have 
spent their lives there and know little 
about the rest of the Great World. 
When Mrs. Quack explained that all 
she feared was that a two-legged crea- 
ture with a terrible gun might find her 
there, Jerry Muskrat hastened to tell 
her that she had nothing to worry about 
on that account. 

“ No one hunts here now that Farmer 
Brown’s boy has put away his terrible 
gun,” explained Jerry. “ There was a 


8 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

time when he used to hunt here and set 
traps, which are worse than terrible 
guns, but that was long ago, before he 
knew any better.’ ’ 

“ Who is Farmer Brown’s boy? ” de- 
manded Mrs. Quack, looking more 
anxious than ever. “ Is he one of those 
two-legged creatures? ” 

“ Yes,” said Peter Rabbit, who had 
been listening with all his ears, “ but 
he is the best friend we Quaddies have 
got. He is such a good friend that he 
ought to be a Quaddy himself. Why, 
this last winter he fed some of us when 
food was scarce, and he saved Mrs. 
Grouse when she was caught in a snare, 
which you know is a kind of trap. He 
won’t let any harm come to you here, 
Mrs. Quack.” 

“ I wouldn’t trust him, not for one 
single little minute,” declared Mrs. 
Quack. “ I wouldn’t trust one of those 


MRS. QUACK IS DISTRUSTFUL 9 

two-legged creatures, not one . You 
say he fed some of you last winter, but 
that doesn’t mean anything good. Do 
you know what I’ve known these two- 
legged creatures to do? ” 

“ What? ” demanded Peter and 
Jerry togeth 

“ I’ve known them to scatter food 
where we Ducks would be sure to find 
it and to take the greatest care that 
nothing should frighten us while we 
were eating. And then, after we had 
got in the habit of feeding in that par- 
ticular place and had grown to feel per- 
fectly safe there, they have hidden close 
by until a lot of us were feeding to- 
gether and then fired their terrible guns 
and killed a lot of my friends and 
dreadfully hurt a lot more. I wouldn’t 
trust one of them, not one! ” 

“ Oh, how dreadful! ” cried Peter, 
looking quite as shocked as he felt. 


10 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

Then he added eagerly, “ But our 
Farmer Brown’s boy wouldn’t do any- 
thing like that. You haven’t the least 
thing to fear from him.” 

“ Perhaps not,” said Mrs. Quack, 
shaking her head doubtfully, “ but I 
wouldn’t trust him. I wouldn’t trust 
him as far off as I could see him. The 
Smiling Pool is a very nice place, al- 
though it is dreadfully small, but if 
Farmer Brown’s boy is likely to come 
over here, I guess I better look for some 
other place, though goodness knows 
where I will find one where I will feel 
perfectly safe.” 

~ “ You are safe right here, if you have 

sense enough to stay here,” declared 
Jerry Muskrat rather testily. “ Don’t 
you suppose Peter and I know what we 
are talking about? ” 

“ I wish I could believe so,” returned 
Mrs. Quack sadly, “ but if you had been 


MRS. QUACK IS DISTRUSTFUL H 

through what I’ve been through, and 
suffered what I’ve suffered, you 
wouldn’t believe any place safe, and 
you certainly wouldn’t trust one of 
those two-legged creatures. Why, for 
weeks they haven’t given me a chance 
to get a square meal, and— and— I don’t 
know what has become of Mr. Quack, 
and I’m all alone! ” There was a little 
sob in her voice and tears in her eyes. 

“ Tell us all about it,” begged Peter. 
“ Perhaps we can help you.” 


in 


MRS. QUACK TELLS ABOUT HER HOME 

“ TT’S a long story,” said Mrs. 
Quack, shaking the tears from 
her eyes, “ and I hardly know 
where to begin.” 

“ Begin at the beginning,” said Jerry 
Muskrat. “ Your home is somewhere 
way up in the Northland where Honker 
the Goose lives, isn’t it? ” 

Mrs. Quack nodded. “ I wish I were 
there this very minute,” she replied, 
the tears coming again. “ But some- 
times I doubt if ever I’ll get there 
again. You folks who don’t have to 
leave your homes every year don’t 
know how well off you are or how 
much you have to be thankful for.” 


MRS. QUACK’S STORY OF HER HOME 13 

“ I never could understand what 
people want to leave their homes for, 
anyway,” declared Peter. 

“ We don’t leave because we want 
to, but because we have to,” replied 
Mrs. Quack, “ and we go back just as 
soon as we can. What would you do 
if you couldn’t find a single thing to 
eat? ” 

“ I guess I’d starve,” replied Peter 
simply. 

“ I guess you would, and that is just 
what we would do, if we didn’t take the 
long journey south when Jack Frost 
freezes everything tight up there where 
my home is,” returned Mrs. Quack. 
“ He comes earlier up there and stays 
twice as long as he does here, and makes 
ten times as much ice and snow. We 
get most of our food in the water or in 
the mud under the water, as of course 
you know, and when the water is 


14 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

frozen, there isn’t a scrap of anything 
we can get to eat. We just have to 
come south. It isn’t because we want 
to, but because we must! There is 
nothing else for us to do.” 

“ Then I don’t see what you want to 
make your home in such a place for,” 
said practical Peter. “ I should think 
you would make it where you can live 
all the year around.” 

“ I was born up there, and I love it 
just as you love the dear Old Briar- 
patch,” replied Mrs. Quack simply. 
“ It is home, and there is no place like 
home. Besides, it is a very beautiful 
and a very wonderful place in summer. 
There is everything that Ducks and 
Geese love. We have all we want of 
the food we love best. Everywhere is 
shallow water with tall grass growing 
in it.” 

“ Huh! ” interrupted Peter, “ I 


MRS. QUACK’S STORY OF HER HOME 15 

wouldn’t think much of a place like 
that.” 

“ That’s because you don’t know 
what is good,” snapped Jerry Muskrat. 
“ It would suit me,” he added, with 
shining eyes. 

“ There are the dearest little islands 
just made for safe nesting-places,” con- 
tinued Mrs. Quack, without heeding the 
interruptions. “ And the days are long, 
and it is easy to hide, and there is noth- 
ing to fear, for two-legged creatures 
with terrible guns never come there.” 

“ If there is nothing to fear, why do 
you care about places to hide? ” de- 
manded Peter. 

“ Well, of course, we have enemies, 
just as you do here, but they are natural 
enemies,— Foxes and Minks and Hawks 
and Owls,” explained Mrs. Quack. 
“ Of course, we have to watch out for 
them and have places where we can 


16 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

hide from them, but it is our wits 
against their w T its, and it is our own 
fault if we get caught. That is perfectly 
fair, so we don’t mind that. It is only 
men who are not fair. They don’t know 
what fairness is.” 

Peter nodded that he understood, and 
Mrs. Quack went on. “ Last summer 
Mr. Quack and I had our nest on the 
dearest little island, and no one found 
it. First we had twelve eggs, and then 
twelve of the dearest babies you ever 
saw.” 

“ Maybe,” said Peter doubtfully, 
thinking of his own babies. 

“ They grew so fast that by the time 
the cold weather came, they were as big 
as their father and mother,” continued 
Mrs. Quack. “ And they were smart, 
too. They had learned how to take 
care of themselves just as well as I 
could. I certainly was proud of that 


MRS. QUACK’S STORY OF HER HOME 17 


family. But now I don’t know where 
one of them is.” 

Mrs. Quack suddenly choked up with 
grief, and Peter Rabbit politely turned 
his head away. 


IV 


MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY 

W HEN Mrs. Quack told of her 
twelve children and how she 
didn’t know where one of 
them was, Peter Rabbit and Jerry 
Muskrat knew just how badly she was 
feeling, and they turned their heads 
away and pretended that they didn’t 
see her tears. In a few minutes she 
bravely went on with her story. 

“ When Jack Frost came and we 
knew it w r as time to begin the long 
journey, Mr. Quack and myself and our 
twelve children joined with some other 
Duck families, and with Mr. Quack in 
the lead, we started for our winter 
home, which really isn’t a home but just 
a place to stay. For a while we had 


MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY 19 

nothing much to fear. We would fly by 
day and at night rest in some quiet lake 
or pond or on some river, with the Great 
Woods all about us or sometimes great 
marshes. Perhaps you don’t know 
what marshes are. If the Green 
Meadows here had little streams of 
water running every which way 
through them, and the ground was all 
soft and muddy and full of water, and 
the grass grew tall, they would be 
marshes.” 

Jerry Muskrat’s eyes sparkled. “ I 
would like a place like that! ” he ex- 
claimed. 

“ You certainly would,” replied Mrs. 
Quack. “ We always find lots of your 
relatives in such places.” 

“ Marshes must be something like 
swamps,” ventured Peter Rabbit, who 
had been thinking the matter over. 

“ Very much the same, only with 


20 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

grass and rushes in place of trees and 
bushes/ ’ replied Mrs. Quack. “ There 
is plenty to eat and the loveliest hiding- 
places. In some of these we stayed 
days at a time. In fact, we stayed until 
Jack Frost came to drive us out. Then 
as we flew, we began to see the homes 
of these terrible two-legged creatures 
called men, and from that time on we 
never knew a minute of peace, except- 
ing when we were flying high in the air 
or far out over the water. If we could 
have just kept flying all the time or 
never had to go near the shore, we 
would have been all right. But we had 
to eat.” 

“ Of course,” said Peter. “ Every- 
body has to eat.” 

“ And we had to rest,” said Mrs. 
Quack. 

“ Certainly,” said Peter. “ Every- 
body has to do that.” 


MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY 21 

“ And to eat we had to go in close to 
shore where the water was not at all 
deep, because it is only in such places 
that we can get food,” continued Mrs. 
Quack. “ It takes a lot of strength to 
fly as we fly, and strength requires 
plenty of food. Mr. Quack knew all the 
best feeding-places, for he had made 
the long journey several times, so every 
day he would lead the way to one of 
these. He always chose the wildest 
and most lonely looking places he could 
find, as far as possible from the homes 
of men, but even then he was never care- 
less. He would lead us around back and 
forth over the place he had chosen, and 
we would all look with all our might for 
signs of danger. If we saw none, we 
would drop down a little nearer and a 
little nearer. But with all our watch- 
fulness, we never could be sure, abso- 
lutely sure, that all was safe. Some- 


22 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

times those terrible two-legged crea- 
tures would be hiding in the very 
middle of the wildest, most lonely look- 
ing marshes. They would be covered 
with grass so that we couldn’t see 
them. Then, as we flew over them, 
would come the bang, bang, bang, bang 
of terrible guns, and always some of our 
flock would drop. We would have to 
leave them behind, for we knew if we 
wanted to live we must get beyond the 
reach of those terrible guns. So we 
would fly our hardest. It was awful, 
just simply awful! ” 

Mrs. Quack paused and shuddered, 
and Peter Babbit and Jerry Muskrat 
shuddered in sympathy. 

“ Sometimes we would have to try 
three or four feeding-places before w r e 
found one where there were no terrible 
guns. And when w r e did find one, we 
would be so tired and frightened that 


MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY 23 

we couldn’t enjoy our food, and we 
didn’t dare to sleep without some one 
on watch all the time. It was like that 
every day. The farther we got, the 
worse it became. Our flock grew 
smaller and smaller. Those who 
escaped the terrible guns would be so 
frightened that they would forget to 
follow their leader and would fly in 
different directions and later perhaps 
join other flocks. So it was that when 
at last we reached the place in the 
sunny Southland for which we had 
started, Mr. Quack and I were alone. 
What became of our twelve children I 
don’t know. I am afraid the terrible 
guns killed some. I hope some joined 
other flocks and escaped, but I don’t 
know.” 

“ I hope they did too,” said Peter. 


V 


PETER LEARNS MORE OF MRS. QUACK’S 
TROUBLES 

It often happens when we know 

The troubles that our friends pass through, 
Our own seem very small indeed; 

You’ll always find that this is true. 

M Y, you must have felt glad 
when you reached your 
winter home! ” exclaimed 
Peter Rabbit when Mrs. Quack finished 
the account of her long, terrible journey 
from her summer home in the far 
Northland to her winter home in the far 
Southland. 

“ I did,” replied Mrs. Quack, “ but 
all the time I couldn’t forget those to 
whom terrible things had happened on 
the way down, and then, too, I kept 
dreading the long journey back.” 


MORE OF MRS. QUACK'S TROUBLES 25 

“ I don’t see why you didn’t stay 
right there. I would have, ’ ’ said Peter, 
nodding his head with an air of great 
wisdom. 

“ Not if you were I,” replied Mrs. 
Quack. “ In the first place it isn’t a 
proper place in which to bring up young 
Ducks and make them strong and 
healthy. In the second place there are 
more dangers down there for young 
Ducks than up in the far Northland. 
In the third place there isn’t room for 
all the Ducks to nest properly. And 
lastly there is a great longing for our 
real home, which Old Mother Nature 
has put in our hearts and which just 
makes us go. We couldn’t be happy if 
we didn’t.” 

“ Is the journey back as bad as the 
journey down? ” asked Peter. 

“ Worse, very much worse,” replied 
Mrs. Quack sadly. “ You can see for 


26 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

yourself just how bad it is, for here I 
am all alone.” Tears filled Mrs. 
Quack’s eyes. “ It is almost too 
.terrible to talk about,” she continued 
after a minute. “ You see, for one 
thing, food isn’t as plentiful as it is in 
the fall, and we just have to go wher- 
ever it is to be found. Those two- 
legged creatures know where those 
feeding-grounds are just as well as we 
do, and they hide there with their 
terrible guns just as they did when we 
were coming south. But it is much 
worse now, very much worse. You see, 
when we were going the other way, if 
we found them at one place we could 
go on to another, but when we are going 
north we cannot always do that. We 
cannot go any faster than Jack Frost 
does. Sometimes we are driven out of 
a place by the bang, bang of the terrible 
guns and go on, only to find that we 


MORE OF MRS. QUACK’S TROUBLES 27 

have caught up with Jack Frost, and 
that the ponds and the rivers are still 
covered with ice. Then there is noth- 
ing to do but to turn back to where 
those terrible guns are waiting for us. 
We just have to do it.” 

Mrs. Quack stopped and shivered. 
“ It seems to me I have heard nothing 
but the noise of those terrible guns ever 
since we started,” said she. “ I 
haven’t had a good square meal for 
days and days, nor a good rest. That is 
what makes me so dreadfully nervous. 
Sometimes, when we had been driven 
from place to place until we had caught 
up with Jack Frost, there would be 
nothing but ice excepting in small 
places in a river where the water runs 
too swiftly to freeze. We would just 
have to drop into one of these to rest a 
little, because we had flown so far that 
our wings ached as if they would drop 


28 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

off. Then just as we would think we 
were safe for a little while, there would 
come the bang of a terrible gun. Then 
we would have to fly again as long as we 
could, and finally come back to the same 
place because there was no other place 
where we could go. Then we would 
have to do it all over again until night 
came. Sometimes I think that those 
men with terrible guns must hate us 
and want to kill every one of us. If 
they didn’t, they would have a little bit 
of pity. They simply haven’t any 
hearts at all.” 

“ It does seem so,” agreed Peter. 
“ But wait until you know Farmer 
Brown’s boy! He’s got a heart! ” he 
added brightly. 

“ I don’t want to know him,” re- 
torted Mrs. Quack. “If he comes near 
here, you’ll see me leave in a hurry. I 
wouldn’t trust one of them, not one 


MORE OF MRS. QUACK’S TROUBLES 29 

minute. You don’t think he will come, 
do you? ” 

Peter sat up and looked across the 
Green Meadows, and his heart sank. 
“ He’s coming now, but I’m sure he 
won’t hurt you, Mrs. Quack,” said he. 

But Mrs. Quack wouldn’t wait to see. 
With a hasty promise to come back 
when the way was clear, she jumped 
into the air and on swift wings disap- 
peared towards the Big River. 


VI 


FARMER BROWN’S BOY VISITS THE SMILING 
POOL 

F armer brown’s boy tad 

heard Welcome Robin singing in 
the Old Orchard quite as soon as 
Peter Rabbit had, and that song of 
“ Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheer up! 
Cheer! ” had awakened quite as much 
gladness in his heart as it had in 
Peter’s heart. It meant that Mistress 
Spring really had arrived, and that over 
in the Green Forest and down on the 
Green Meadows there would soon be 
shy blue, and just as shy white violets 
to look for, and other flowers almost if 
not quite as sweet and lovely. It 
meant that his feathered friends would 


A VISIT TO THE SMILING POOL 31 

soon be busy house-bunting and build- 
ing. It meant that his little friends in 
fin* would also be doing something very 
similar, if they had not already done 
so. It meant that soon there would be 
a million lovely things to see iand a 
million joyous sounds to hear. 

So the sound of Welcome Robin’s 
voice made the heart of Parmer 
Brown’s boy even more happy than it 
was before, and as Welcome Robin just 
had to sing, so Parmer Brown’s boy 
just had to whistle. When his work 
was finished, it seemed to Farmer 
Brown’s boy that something was calling 
him, calling him to get out on the Green 
Meadows or over in the Green Forest 
and share in the happiness of all the 
little people there. So presently he de- 
cided that he would go down to the 
Smiling Pool to find out how Jerry 
Muskrat was, and if Grandfather Frog 


32 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

was awake yet, and if the sweet singers 
of the Smiling Pool had begun their 
wonderful spring chorus. 

Down the Crooked Little Path cross 
the Green Meadows he tramped, and as 
he drew near the Smiling Pool, he 
stopped whistling lest the sound should 
frighten some of the little people there. 
He was still some distance from the 
Smiling Pool when out of it sprang a 
big bird and on swift, whistling wings 
flew away in the direction of the Big 
River. Farmer Brown’s boy stopped 
and watched until the bird had dis- 
appeared, and on his face was a look of 
great surprise. 

“As I live, that was a Duck! ” he 
exclaimed. “ That is the first time I’ve 
ever known a wild Duck to be in the 
Smiling Pool. I wonder what under 
the sun could have brought her over 
here.” 


A VISIT TO THE SMILING POOL 33 

Just then there was a distant bang in 
the direction of the Big River. Farmer 
Brown’s boy scowled, and it made his 
face very angry-looking. “ That’s it,” 
he muttered. u Hunters are shooting 
the Ducks on their way north and have 
driven the poor things to look for any 
little mudhole where they can get a 
little rest. Probably that Duck has 
been shot at so many times on the Big 
River that she felt safer over here in the 
Smiling Pool, little as it is.” 

Farmer Brown’s boy had guessed 
exactly right, as you and I know, and 
as Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat 
knew. u It’s a shame, a downright 
shame that any one should want to 
shoot birds on their way to their nest- 
ing-grounds and that the law should 
let them if they do want to. Some 
people haven’t any hearts; they’re all 
stomachs. I hope that fellow who 1 shot 


34 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

just now over there on the Big River 
didn’t hit anything, and I wish that 
gun of his might have kicked a little 
sense of what is right and fair into his 
head, hut of course it didn’t.” 

He grinned at the idea, and then he 
continued his way towards the Smiling 
Pool. He hoped he might find another 
Duck there, and he approached the 
Smiling Pool very, very carefully. 

But when he reached a point where 
he could see all over the Smiling Pool, 
there was no one to be seen save Jerry 
Muskrat sitting on the Big Rock and 
Peter Rabbit on the bank on the other 
side. Farmer Brown’s boy smiled 
when he saw them. “ Hello, Jerry 
Muskrat! ” said he. 11 1 wonder how a 
bite of carrot would taste to you.” He 
felt in his pocket and brought out a 
couple of carrots. One he put on a 
little tussock in the water where he 


A VISIT TO THE SMILING POOL 35 

knew Jerry would find it. The other 
he tossed across the Smiling Pool where 
he felt sure Peter would find it. Pres- 
ently he noticed two or three feathers 
on the water close to the edge of the 
hank. Mrs. Quack had left them there. 
“ I believe that was a Mallard Duck,” 
said he, as he studied them. “ I know 
what 111 do. I’ll go straight back 
home and get some wheat and corn and 
put it here on the edge of the Smiling 
Pool. Perhaps she will come back and 
find it.” 

And this is just what Farmer 
Brown’s boy did. 


VII 


MRS. QUACK RETURNS 

P ETER RABBIT just couldn’t go 
back to the dear Old Briar-patch. 
He just had to know if Mrs. 
Quack would come back to the Smiling 
Pool. He had seen Farmer Brown’s boy 
come there a second time and scatter 
wheat and corn among the brown stalks 
of last summer’s rushes, and he had 
guessed why Farmer Brown’s boy had 
done this. He had guessed that they 
had been put there especially for Mrs. 
Quack, and if she should come back as 
she had promised to do, he wanted to be 
on hand when she found those good 
things to eat and hear what she would 
say. 



Several times she circled around, high over the Smil- 
ing Pool. Page 37. 


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MRS. QUACK RETURNS 37 

So Peter stayed over near the Smil- 
ing Pool and hoped with all his might 
that Reddy Fox or Old Man Coyote 
would not take it into his head to come 
hunting over there. As luck would 
have it, neither of them did, and Peter 
had a very pleasant time gossiping with 
Jerry Muskrat, listening to the sweet 
voices of unseen singers in the Smiling 
Pool,— the Hylas, which some people 
call peepers,— and eating the carrot 
which Farmer Brown’s hoy had left for 
him. 

Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was just 
getting ready to go to bed behind the 
Purple Hills when Mrs. Quack re- 
turned. The first Peter knew of her 
coming was the whistle of her wings 
as she passed over him. Several times 
she circled around, high over the Smil- 
ing Pool, and Peter simply stared in 
open-mouthed admiration at the speed 


38 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

with which she flew. It didn’t seem 
possible that one so big could move 
through the air so fast. Twice she set 
her wings and seemed to just slide 
down almost to the surface of the 
Smiling Pool, only to start her stout 
wings in motion once more and circle 
around again. It was very clear that 
she was terribly nervous and sus- 
picious. The third time she landed in 
the water with a splash and sat per- 
fectly still with her head stretched up, 
looking and listening with all her 
might. 

“ It’s all right. There’s nothing to 
be afraid of,” said Jerry Muskrat. 

“ Are you sure? ” asked Mrs. Quack 
anxiously. “ I’ve been fooled too often 
by men with their terrible guns to ever 
feel absolutely sure that one isn’t 
hiding and waiting to shoot me.” As 
she spoke she swam about nervously. 


MRS. QUACK RETURNS 39 

“ Peter Rabbit and I have been here 
ever since you left, and I guess we ought 
to know,” replied Jerry Muskrat rather 
shortly. “ There hasn’t been anybody 
near here excepting Farmer Brown’s 
boy, and we told you he wouldn’t hurt 
you.” 

“ He brought us each a carrot,” 
Peter Rabbit broke in eagerly. 

“ Just the same, I wouldn’t trust 
him,” replied Mrs. Quack. “ Where is 
he now? ” 

u He left ever so long ago, and he 
won’t be back to-night,” declared Peter 
confidently. 

“ I hope not,” said Mrs. Quack, with 
a sigh. “ Hid you hear the bang of that 
terrible gun just after I left here? ” 

u Yes,” replied J erry Muskrat. 
“ Was it fired at you? ” 

Mrs. Quack nodded and held up one 
wing. Peter and Jerry could see that 


40 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

one of the long feathers was missing. 
“ I thought I was flying high enough to 
be safe,” said she, “ but when I reached 
the Big River there was a bang from the 
bushes on the bank, and something cut 
that feather out of my wing, and I felt 
a sharp pain in my side. It made me 
feel quite ill for a while, and the place 
is very sore now, but I guess I’m lucky 
that it was no worse. It is very hard 
work to know just how far those 
terrible guns can throw things at you. 
Next time I will fly higher.” 

“ Where have you been since you left 
us? ” asked Peter. 

“ Right in the middle of the Big 
River,” replied Mrs. Quack. “ It was 
the only safe place. I didn’t dare go 
near either shore, and I’m nearly 
starved. I haven’t had a mouthful to 
eat to-day.” 

Peter opened his mouth to tell her of 


MRS. QUACK RETURNS 41 

the wheat and corn left by Farmer 
Brown’s boy and then closed it again. 
He would let her find it for herself. If 
he told her about it, she might suspect 
a trick and refuse to go near the place. 
He never had seen any one so sus- 
picious, not even Old Man Coyote. But 
he couldn’t blame her, after all she had 
been through. So he kept still and 
waited. He was learning, was Peter 
Babbit. He was learning a great deal 
about Mrs. Quack. 


vni 


MRS. QUACK HAS A GOOD MEAL AND A REST 

There ’s nothing like a stomach full 
To make the heart feel light ; 

To chase away the clouds of care 
And make the world seem bright. 

T HAT’S a fact. A full stomach 
makes the whole world seem 
different, brighter, better, and 
more worth living in. It is the hardest 
kind of hard work to be cheerful and 
see only the bright side of things when 
your stomach is empty. But once fill 
that empty stomach, and everything is 
changed. It was just that way with 
Mrs. Quack. For days at a time she 
hadn’t had a full stomach because of 
the hunters with their terrible guns, 


MRS. QUACK’S GOOD MEAL AND REST 43 

and when just before dark that night 
she returned to the Smiling Pool, her 
stomach was quite empty. 

“ I don’t suppose I’ll find much to 
eat here, but a little in peace and safety 
is better than a feast with worry and 
danger,” said she, swimming over to 
the brown, broken-down bulrushes on 
one side of the Smiling Pool and ap- 
pearing to stand on her head as she 
plunged it under water and searched in 
the mud on the bottom for food. Peter 
Rabbit looked over at Jerry Muskrat 
sitting on the Big Rock, and Jerry 
winked. In a minute up bobbed the 
head of Mrs. Quack, and there was both 
a pleased and a worried look on her 
face. She had found some of the corn 
left there by Farmer Brown’s boy. At 
once she swam out to the middle of the 
Smiling Pool, looking suspiciously this 
way and that way. 


44 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

“ There is corn over there,” said she. 
“ Do you know how it came there? ” 

“ I saw Farmer Brown’s boy throw- 
ing something over there,” replied 
Peter. “ Didn’t we tell you that he 
would be good to you? ” 

“ Quack, quack, quack! I’ve seen 
that kind of kindness too often to be 
fooled by it,” snapped Mrs. Quack. 
“ He probably saw me leave in a hurry 
and put this com here, hoping that I 
would come back and find it and make 
up my mind to stay here a while. He 
thinks that if I do, he’ll have a chance 
to hide near enough to shoot me. I 
didn’t believe this could be a safe place 
for me, and now I know it. I’ll stay 
here to-night, but to-morrow I’ll try 
to find some other place. Oh, dear, it’s 
dreadful not to have any place at all 
to feel safe in.” There were tears in 
her eyes. 


MBS. QUACK’S GOOD MEAL AND REST 45 

Peter thought of the dear Old Briar- 
patch and how safe he always felt 
there, and he felt a great pity for poor 
Mrs. Quack, who couldn’t feel safe any- 
where. And then right away he grew 
indignant that she should be so dis- 
trustful of Farmer Brown’s boy, 
though if he had stopped to think, he 
would have remembered that once he 
was just as distrustful. 

“ I should think,” said Peter with a 
great deal of dignity, “ that you might 
at least believe what Jerry Muskrat 
and I, who live here all the time, tell 
you. We ought to know Farmer 
Brown’s boy if any one does, and we 
tell you that he won’t harm a feather of 
you.” 

“ He won’t get the chance! ” snapped 
Mrs. Quack. 

Jerry Muskrat sniffed in disgust. 
“ I don’t doubt you have suffered a lot 


46 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

from men with terrible guns,” said he, 
“ but you don’t suppose Peter and I 
have lived as long as we have without 
learning a little, do you? I wouldn’t 
trust many of those two-legged crea- 
tures myself, but Farmer Brown’s boy 
is different. If all of them were like 
him, we wouldn’t have a thing to fear 
from them. He has a heart. Yes, in- 
deed, he has a heart. Now you take 
my advice and eat whatever he has put 
there for you, be thankful, and stop 
worrying. Peter and I will keep watch 
and warn you if there is any danger.” 

I don’t know as even this would have 
overcome Mrs. Quack’s fears if it 
hadn’t been for the taste of that good 
corn in her mouth, and her empty 
stomach. She couldn’t, she just 
couldn’t resist these, and presently she 
was back among the rushes, hunting 
out the com and wheat as fast as ever 


MRS. QUACK’S GOOD MEAL AND REST 47 

she could. When at last she could eat 
no more, she felt so comfortable that 
somehow the Smiling Pool didn’t seem 
such a dangerous place after all, and 
she quite forgot Farmer Brown’s boy. 
She found a snug hiding-place among 
the rushes too far out from the bank 
for Reddy Fox to surprise her, and 
then with a sleepy “ Good night ” to 
Jerry and Peter, she tucked her head 
under her wing and soon was fast 
asleep. 

Peter Rabbit tiptoed away, and then 
he hurried lipperty-lipperty-lip to the 
dear Old Briar-patch to tell Mrs. Peter 
all about Mrs. Quack. 


IX 


PETER RABBIT MAKES AN EARLY CALL 

P ETER RABBIT was so full of 
interest in Mrs. Quack and her 
troubles that he was back at the 
Smiling Pool before Mr. Sun had kicked 
off his rosy blankets and begun his daily 
climb up in the blue, blue sky. You 
see, he felt that he had heard only a 
part of Mrs. Quack’s story, and he was 
dreadfully afraid that she would get 
away before he could hear the rest. 
With the first bit of daylight, Mrs. 
Quack swam out from her hiding-place 
among the brown rushes. It looked to 
Peter as if she sat up on the end of her 
tail as she stretched her neck and wings 
just as far as she could, and he wanted 


PETER RABBIT MAKES A CALL 49 

to laugh right out. Then she quickly 
ducked her head under water two or 
three times so that the water rolled 
down over her back, and again Peter 
wanted to laugh. But he didn’t. He 
kept perfectly still. Mrs. Quack shook 
herself and then began to carefully 
dress her feathers. That is, she care- 
fully put back in place every feather 
that had been rumpled up. She took a 
great deal of time for this, for Mrs. 
Quack is very neat and tidy and takes 
the greatest pride in looking as fine as 
she can. 

Of course it was very impolite of 
Peter to watch her make her toilet, but 
he didn’t think of that. He didn’t 
mean to be impolite. And then it was 
so interesting. “ Huh! ” said he to 
himself, “ I don’t see what any one 
wants to w r aste so much time on their 
clothes for.” 


50 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

You know Peter doesn’t waste any 
time on his clothes. In fact, he doesn’t 
seem to care a bit how he looks. He 
hasn’t learned yet that it always pays 
to be as neat and clean as possible and 
that you must think well of yourself if 
you want others to think well of you. 

When at last Mrs. Quack had taken 
a final shower bath and appeared satis- 
fied that she was looking her best, Peter 
opened his mouth to ask her the ques- 
tions he was so full of, but closed it 
again as he remembered people are 
usually better natured when their 
stomachs are full, and Mrs. Quack had 
not yet breakfasted. So he waited as 
patiently as he could, which wasn’t 
patiently at all. At last Mrs. Quack 
finished her breakfast, and then she had 
to make her toilet all over again. 
Finally Peter hopped to the edge of the 
bank where she would see him. 


PETER RABBIT MAKES A CALL 51 

“ Good morning, Mrs. Quack,” said 
he very politely. “ I hope you had a 
good rest and are feeling very well this 
morning.” 

“ Thank you,” replied Mrs. Quack. 
“ I’m feeling as well as could be ex- 
pected. In fact, I’m feeling better than 
I have felt for some time in spite of the 
sore place made by that terrible gun 
yesterday. You see, I have had a good 
rest and two square meals, and these 
are things I haven’t had since goodness 
knows when. This is a very nice place. 
Let me see, what is it you call it? ” 

u The Smiling Pool,” said Peter. 

“ That’s a good name for it,” re- 
turned Mrs. Quack. “ If only I could 
be sure that none of those hunters 
would find me here, and if only Mr. 
Quack were here, I would be content to 
stay a while.” At the mention of Mr. 
Quack, the eyes of Mrs. Quack suddenly 


52 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

filled with tears. Peter felt tears of 
sympathy in his own eyes. 

“ Where is Mr. Quack? ” he asked. 

“ I don’t know,” sobbed Mrs. Quack. 
“ I wish I did. I haven’t seen him 
since one of those terrible guns was 
fired at us over on the Big River yes- 
terday morning a little while before 
Little J oe Otter told me about the Smil- 
ing Pool. Ever since we started for our 
home in the far North, I have been fear- 
ing that something of this kind might 
happen. I ought to be on my way there 
now, but what is the use without Mr. 
Quack? Without him, I would be all 
alone up there and wouldn’t have any 
home.” 

“Won’t you tell me all that has 
happened since you started on your long 
journey? ” asked Peter. “ Perhaps 
some of us can help you.” 

“I’m afraid you can’t,” replied Mrs. 


PETER RABBIT MAKES A CALL 53 

Quack sadly, “ but I’ll tell you all about 
it so that you may know just how 
thankful you ought to feel that you do 
not have to suffer what some of us do.” 


X 


HOW MR. AND MRS. QUACK STARTED NORTH 

P ETER RABBIT was eager to 
help Mrs. Quack in her trouble, 
though he hadn’t the least idea 
how he could help and neither had she. 
How any one who dislikes water as 
Peter does could help one who lives on 
the water all the time was more than 
either one of them could see. And yet 
without knowing it, Peter ivas helping 
Mrs. Quack. He was giving her his 
sympathy, and sympathy often helps 
others a great deal more than we even 
guess. It sometimes is a very good 
plan to tell your troubles to some one 
who will listen with sympathy. It was 
so with Mrs. Quack. She had kept her 


MR. AND MRS. QUACK START NORTH 55 

troubles locked in her own heart so long 
that it did her good to pour them all out 
to Peter. 

“ Mr. Quack and I spent a very com- 
fortable winter way down in the sunny 
Southland / 9 said she with a far-away 
look. “ It was very warm and nice 
down there, and there were a great 
many other Ducks spending the winter 
with us. The place where we were was 
far from the homes of men, and it was 
only once in a long while that we had to 
watch out for terrible guns. Of course, 
we had to have our wits with us all the 
time, because there are Hawks and 
Owls and Minks down there just as 
there are up here, but any Duck who 
can’t keep out of their way deserves to 
furnish one of them a dinner. 

“ Then there was another fellow we 
had to watch out for, a queer fellow 
whom we never see anywhere but down 


56 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

there. It was never safe to swim too 
near an old log floating in the water or 
lying on the bank, because it might 
suddenly open a great mouth and 
swallow one of us whole.” 

“ What’s that'? ” Peter Rabbit 
leaned forward and stared at Mrs. 
Quack with his eyes popping right out. 
“ What’s that? ” he repeated. “ How 
can an old log have a mouth? ” 

Mrs. Quack just had to smile, Peter 
was so in earnest and looked so aston- 
ished. 

“ Of course,” said she, “ no really 
truly log has a mouth or is alive, but 
this queer fellow I was speaking of 
looks so much like an old log floating 
in the water unless you look at him very 
sharply, that many a heedless young 
Duck has discovered the difference 
when it was too late. Then, too, he will 
swim under water and come up under- 



Some folks call him Alligator and some just 

’Gator.” Page 57. 





























































































































MR. AND MRS. QUACK START NORTH 57 

neath and seize you without any warn- 
ing. He has the biggest mouth I’ve ever 
seen, with terrible-looking teeth, and 
could swallow me whole.” 

By this time Peter’s eyes looked as if 
they would fall out of his head. 
“ What is his name? ” whispered 
Peter. 

“ It’s Old Ally the ’Gator,” replied 
Mrs. Quack. “ Some folks call him 
Alligator and some just ’Gator, but we 
call him Old Ally. He’s a very inter- 
esting old fellow. Some time perhaps 
I ’ll tell you more about him. Mr. Quack 
and I kept out of his reach, you may be 
sure. ,We lived quietly and tried to get 
in as good condition as possible for the 
long journey back to our home in the 
North. When it was time to start, a 
lot of us got together, just as we did 
when we came down from the North, 
only this time the young Ducks felt 


58 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

themselves quite grown up. In fact, 
before we started there was a great deal 
of love-making, and each one chose a 
mate. That was a very happy time, a 
very happy time indeed, but it was a 
sad time too for us older Ducks, be- 
cause we knew what dreadful things 
were likely to happen on the long 
journey. It is hard enough to lose 
father or mother or brother or sister, 
but it is worse to lose a dear mate.” 

Mrs. Quack’s eyes suddenly filled 
with tears again. “ Oh, dear,” she 
sobbed, “ I wish I knew what became 
of Mr. Quack.” 

Peter said nothing, but looked the 
sympathy he felt. Presently Mrs. 
Quack went on with her story. “ We 
had a splendid big flock when we 
started, made up wholly of pairs, each 
pair dreaming of the home they would 
build when they reached the far North. 


MR. AND MRS. QUACK START NORTH 59 

Mr. Quack was the leader as usual, and 
I flew right behind him. We hadn’t 
gone far before we began to hear the 
terrible guns, and the farther we went, 
the worse they got. Mr. Quack led us 
to the safest feeding and resting 
grounds he knew of, and for a time our 
flock escaped the terrible guns. But 
the farther we went, the more guns 
there were.” Mrs. Quack paused and 
Peter waited. 


XI 


THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS 

1 1 Bang ! Bang ! Bang ! Not a feather spare ! 
Kill! Kill! Kill! Wound and rip and tear! ” 

T HAT is what the terrible guns 
roar from morning to night at 
Mrs. Quack and her friends as 
they fly on their long journey to their 
home in the far North. I don’t wonder 
that she was terribly uneasy and nerv- 
ous as she sat in the Smiling Pool talk- 
ing to Peter Rabbit; do you? 

66 Yes,” said she, continuing her story 
of her long journey from the sunny 
Southland where she had spent the 
winter, “ the farther we got, the more 
there were of those terrible guns. It 
grew so bad that as well as Mr. Quack 


THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS 61 

knew the places where we could find 
food, and no Duck that ever flew knew 
them better, he couldn’t find one where 
we could feel perfectly sure that we 
were safe. The very safest-looking 
places sometimes were the most danger- 
ous. If you saw a lot of Rabbits play- 
ing together on the Green Meadows, 
you would feel perfectly safe in joining 
them, wouldn’t you? ” 

Peter nodded. ‘ ‘ I certainly would, ’ ’ 
said he. “If it was safe for them it 
certainly would be safe for me.” 

“ Well, that is just the way we felt 
when we saw a lot of Ducks swimming 
about on the edge of one of those feed- 
ing-places. We were tired, for we had 
flown a long distance, and we were 
hungry. It was still and peaceful there 
and not a thing to be seen that looked 
the least bit like danger. So we went 
straight in to join those Ducks, and 


62 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

then, just as we set our wings to drop 
down on the water among them, there 
was a terrible bang, bang, bang, bang! 
My heart almost stopped beating. Then 
how we did fly! When we were far 
out over the water where we could see 
that nothing was near us we stopped to 
rest, and there we found only half as 
many in our flock as there had been.” 

Where were the others?” asked 
Peter, although he guessed. 

u Killed or hurt by those terrible 
guns,” replied Mrs. Quack sadly. 
“ And that wasn’t the worst of it. I 
told you that when we started each of 
us had a mate. Now we found that of 
those who had escaped, four had lost 
their mates. They were heartbroken. 
When it came time for us to move on, 
they wouldn’t go. They said that if 
they did reach the nesting-place in the 
far North, they couldn’t have nests or 


THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS 63 

eggs or young because they had no 
mates, so what was the use? Besides, 
they hoped that if they waited around 
they might find their mates. They 
thought they might not have been 
killed, but just hurt, and might be able 
to get away from those hunters. So 
they left us and swam back towards 
that terrible place, calling for their lost 
mates, and it was the saddest sound. I 
know now just how they felt, for I have 
lost Mr. Quack, and that’s why I’m 
here.” Mrs. Quack drew a wing across 
her eyes to wipe away the tears. 

“ But what happened to those Ducks 
that were swimming about there and 
made you think it was safe? ” asked 
Peter, with a puzzled look on his face. 

“ Nothing,” replied Mrs. Quack. 
“ They had been fastened out there in 
the water by the hunters so as to make 
us think it safe, and the terrible guns 


64 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

were fired at us and not at them. The 
hunters were hidden under grass, and 
that is why we didn’t see them.” 

Peter blinked his eyes rapidly as if he 
were having hard work to believe what 
he had been told. “ Why,” said he at 
last, “ I never heard of anything so 
dreadfully unfair in all my life! Do 
you mean to tell me that those hunters 
actually made other Ducks lead you 
into danger? ” 

“ That’s just what I mean,” returned 
Mrs. Quack. “ Those two-legged crea- 
tures don’t know what fairness is. 
Why, some of them have learned our 
language and actually call us in where 
they can shoot us. Just think of that! 
They tell us in our own language that 
there is plenty to eat and all is safe, so 
that we will think that other Ducks are 
hidden and feeding there, and then 
when we go to join them, we are shot at ! 


THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS 65 

You ought to be mighty thankful, Peter 
Rabbit, that you are not a Duck.” 

“ Iv am,” replied Peter. He knew 
that not one of the meadow and forest 
people who were always trying to catch 
him would do a thing like that. 

“ It’s all true,” said Mrs. Quack, 
“ and those hunters do other things 
just as unfair. Sometimes awful storms 
will come up, and we just have to find 
places where we can rest. Those hunt- 
ers will hide near those places and shoot 
at us when we are so tired that we can 
hardly move a wing. It wouldn’t be so 
bad if a hunter would be satisfied to 
kill just one Duck, just as Reddy Fox 
is, but he seems to want to kill every 
Duck. Foxes and Hawks and Owls 
catch a good many young Ducks, just 
as they do young Rabbits, but you know 
how we feel about that. They only 
hunt when they are hungry, and they 


66 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

hunt fairly. When they have got 
enough to make a dinner, they stop. 
They keep our wits sharp. If we do 
not keep out of their way, it is our own 
fault. It is a kind of game— the game 
of life. I guess it is Old Mother 
Nature’s way of keeping us wide-awake 
and sharpening our wits, and so making 
us better fitted to live. 

“ With these two-legged creatures 
with terrible guns, it is all different. 
We don’t have any chance at all. If 
they hunted us as Reddy Fox does, tried 
to catch us themselves, it would be 
different. But their terrible guns kill 
when we are a long way off, and there 
isn’t any way for us to know of the 
danger. And then, when one of them 
does kill a Duck, he isn’t satisfied, but 
keeps on killing and killing and killing. 
I’m sure one would make him a dinner, 
if that is what he wants. 


THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS 67 

“ And they often simply break the 
wings or otherwise terribly hurt the 
ones they shoot at, and then leave them 
to suffer, unable to take care of them- 
selves. Oh, dear, I’m afraid that is 
what has happened to Mr. Quack.” 

Once more poor Mrs. Quack was quite 
overcome with her troubles and sor- 
rows. Peter wished with all his heart 
that he could do something to comfort 
her, but of course he couldn’t, so he just 
sat still and waited until she could tell 
him just what did happen to Mr. Quack. 


XII 

WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK 

W HEN did you last see Mr. 

Quack ? ’ ’ asked J erry Musk- 
rat, who had been listening 
while Mrs. Quack told Peter Rabbit 
about her terrible journey. 

“ Early yesterday morning/ ’ re- 
plied Mrs. Quack, the tears once more 
filling her eyes. “ We had reached 
the Big River over there, just six of us 
out of the big flock that had started 
from the sunny Southland. How we 
got as far as that I don’t know. But 
we did, and neither Mr. Quack nor I 
had lost a feather from those terrible 
guns that had banged at us all the way 


WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK 69 

up and that had killed so many of our 
friends. 

"We were flying up the Big River, 
and everything seemed perfectly safe. 
We were in a hurry, and when we came 
to a bend in the Big River, we flew 
quite close to shore, so as not to have 
to go way out and around. That was 
where Mr. Quack made a mistake. 
Even the smartest people will make 
mistakes sometimes, you know.” 

Peter Rabbit nodded. " I know,” 
said he. "I’ve made them myself.” 
And then he wondered why Jerry 
Muskrat laughed right out. 

"Yes,” continued Mrs. Quack, " that 
is where Mr. Quack made a mis- 
take, a great mistake. I suppose 
that because not a single gun had 
been fired at us that morning he 
thought perhaps there were no hunters 
on the Big River. So to save time he 


70 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

led us close to shore. And then it 
happened. There was a bang, bang of 
a terrible gun, and down fell Mr. Quack 
just as we had seen so many fall before. 
It was awful. There was Mr. Quack 
flying in front of me on swift, strong 
wings, and there never was a swifter, 
stronger flier or a handsomer Duck 
than Mr. Quack, and then all in the 
wink of an eye he was tumbling help- 
lessly down, down to the water below, 
and I was flying on alone, for the other 
Ducks turned off, and I don’t know 
what became of them. I couldn’t stop to 
see what became of Mr. Quack, because 
if I had, that terrible gun would have 
killed me. So I kept on a little way 
and then turned and went back, only I 
kept out in the middle of the Big River. 
I dropped down on the water and swam 
about, calling and calling, but I didn’t 
get any answer, and so I don’t know 


WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK 71 

what has become of Mr. Quack. I am 
afraid he was killed, and if he was, I 
wish I had been killed myself.” 

Here Mrs. Quack choked up so that 
she couldn’t say another word. Peter’s 
own eyes were full of tears as he tried 
to comfort her. “ Perhaps,” said he, 
“ Mr. Quack wasn’t killed and is 
hiding somewhere along the Big River. 
I don’t know why I feel so, but I feel 
sure that he wasn’t killed, and that you 
will find him yet.” 

“ That’s why I’ve waited instead of 
going on,” replied Mrs. Quack between 
sobs, “ though it wouldn’t have been 
of any use to go on without my dear 
mate. I’m going back to the Big River 
now to look for him. The trouble is, I 
don’t dare go near the shore, and if he 
is alive, he probably is hiding some- 
where among the rushes along the 
banks. I think I’ll be going along 


72 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

now, but I’ll be back to-night if nothing 
happens to me. You folks who can 
always stay at home have a great deal 
to be thankful for.” 

“ It’s lucky for me that Mrs. Peter 
wasn’t here to hear her say that,” 
said Peter, as he and Jerry Muskrat 
watched Mrs. Quack fly swiftly towards 
the Big River. “ Mrs. Peter is forever 
worrying and scolding because I don’t 
stay in the dear Old Briar-patch. If 
she had heard Mrs. Quack say that, I 
never would have heard the last of 
it. I wish there was something we 
could do for Mrs. Quack. I’m going 
back to the dear Old Brian-patch to 
think it over, and I guess the sooner I 
start the better, for that looks to me 
like Reddy Fox over there, and he’s 
headed this way.” 

So off for home started Peter, lip- 
perty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could 


WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK 73 

go, and all the way there he was turn- 
ing over in his mind what Mrs. Quack 
had told him and trying to think of 
some way to help her. 


XTTT 


PETER TELLS ABOUT MRS. QUACK 

To get things done, if youTl but try, 

You’ll always find there is a way. 

What you yourself can’t do alone 
The chances are another may. 

W IEN Peter Rabbit was once 
more safely back in the dear 
Old Briar-patch, he told Mrs. 
Peter all about poor Mrs. Quack and 
her troubles. Then for a long, long 
time he sat in a brown study. A brown 
study, you know, is sitting perfectly 
still and thinking very hard. That was 
what Peter did. He sat so still that if 
you had happened along, you probably 
would have thought him asleep. But 
he wasn’t asleep. No, indeed! He was 
just thinking and thinking. He was 



“ Just tuck that fact away in that empty head of 
yours and never say can’t.” Page 75. 





PETER TELLS ABOUT MRS. QUACK 75 

trying to think of some way to help 
Mrs. Quack. At last he gave a little 
sigh of disappointment. 

“ It can’t be done,” said he. “ There 
isn’t any way.” 

“ What can’t be done? ” demanded 
a voice right over his head. 

Peter looked up. There sat Sammy 
Jay. Peter had been thinking so hard 
that he hadn’t seen Sammy arrive. 

“ What can’t be done? ” repeated 
Sammy. “ There isn’t anything that 
can’t be done. There are plenty of 
things that you can’t do, but what you 
can’t do some one else can. Just tuck 
that fact away in that empty head of 
yours and never say can’t.” You 
know Sammy dearly loves to tease 
Peter. 

Peter made a good-natured face at 
Sammy. “ Which means, I suppose, 
that what I can’t do you can. You 


76 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

always did have a pretty good opinion 
of yourself, Sammy,’ ’ said he. 

“ Nothing of the kind,” retorted 
Sammy. “ I simply mean that nobody 
can do everything, and that very often 
two heads are better than one. It 
struck me that you had something on 
your mind, and I thought I might be 
able to help you get rid of it. But of 
course, if you don’t want my help, sup- 
posing I could and would give it to you, 
that is an end of the matter, and I guess 
I’ll be on my way. The Old Briar- 
patch is rather a dull place anyway.” 

Peter started to make a sharp retort, 
but thought better of it. Instead he 
replied mildly: “ I was just trying to 
think of some way to help poor Mrs. 
Quack.” 

“ Help Mrs. Quack! ” exclaimed 
Sammy in surprise. “ Where under 
the sun did you get acquainted with 


PETER TELLS ABOUT MRS. QUACK 77 

Mrs. Quack? What’s the matter with 
her? She always has looked to me 
quite able to help herself.” 

“ Well, she isn’t. That is, she needs 
others to help her just now,” replied 
Peter, “ and I’ve been most thinking 
my head off trying to find a way to 
help her.” Then he told Sammy how 
he had met Mrs. Quack at the Smiling 
Pool and how terrible her long journey 
up from the sunny Southland had been, 
and how Mr. Quack had been shot by a 
hunter with a terrible gun, and how 
poor Mrs. Quack was quite heart- 
broken, and how she had gone over to 
the Big River to look for him but didn’t 
dare go near the places where he might 
be hiding if he were still alive and hurt 
so that he couldn’t fly, and how cruel 
and terribly unfair were the men with 
terrible guns, and all the other things 
he had learned from Mrs. Quack. 


78 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

Sammy listened with his head cocked 
on one side, and for once he didn’t in- 
terrupt Peter or try to tease him or 
make fun of him. In fact, as Peter 
looked up at him, he could see that 
Sammy was very serious and thought- 
ful, and that the more he heard of Mrs. 
Quack’s story the more thoughtful he 
looked. When Peter finished, Sammy 
flew down a little nearer to Peter. 

“ I beg your pardon for saying your 
head is empty, Peter,” said he. “ Your 
heart is right, anyway. Of course, 
there isn’t anything you can do to help 
Mrs. Quack, but as I told you in the 
beginning, what you can’t do others 
can. Now I don’t say that I can help 
Mrs. Quack, but I can try. I believe 
I’ll do a little thinking myself.” 

So Sammy Jay in his turn went into 
a brown study, and Peter watched him 
anxiously and a little hopefully. 


XIV 


SAMMY JAY’S PLAN TO HELP MRS. QUACK 

S AMMY JAY sat on the lowest 
branch of a little tree in the dear 
Old Briar-patch just over Peter 
Rabbit’s head, thinking as hard as ever 
he could. Peter watched him and 
wondered if Sammy would be able to 
think of any plan for helping poor Mrs. 
Quack. He hoped so. He himself had 
thought and thought until he felt as if 
his brains were all mixed up and he 
couldn’t think any more. So he 
watched Sammy and waited and hoped. 

Presently Sammy flirted his wings in 
a way which Peter knew meant that he 
had made up his mind. “ Hid I under- 
stand you to say that Mrs. Quack said 


80 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

that if Mr. Quack is alive, he probably 
is hiding among the rushes along the 
banks of the Big River? ” he asked. 

Peter nodded. 

“ And that she said that she doesn’t 
dare go near the banks because of fear 
of the terrible guns? ” 

Again Peter nodded. 

“ Well, if that’s the case, what is the 
matter with some of us who are not 
afraid of the terrible guns looking for 
Mr. Quack? ” said Sammy. “ I will, 
for one, and I’m quite sure that my 
cousin, Blacky the Crow, will, for 
another. He surely will if he thinks it 
will spoil the plans of any hunters. 
Blacky would go a long distance to do 
that. He hates terrible guns and the 
men who use them. And he knows all 
about them. He has very sharp eyes, 
has Blacky, and he knows when a man 
has got a gun and when he hasn’t. 


SAMMY’S PLAN TO HELP MRS. QUACK 81 

More than that, he can tell better than 
any one I know of just how near he can 
safely go to one of those terrible guns. 
He is smart, my cousin Blacky is, and if 
he will help me look for Mr. Quack, 
we’ll find him if he is alive.” 

“ That will be splendid! ” cried 
Peter, clapping his hands. “ But 
aren’t you afraid of those terrible guns, 
Sammy? ” 

“ Not when the hunters are trying 
for Ducks,” replied Sammy. “ If 
there is a Duck anywhere in sight, they 
won’t shoot at poor little me or even at 
Blacky, though they would shoot at him 
any other time. You see, they know 
that shooting at us would frighten the 
Ducks. Blacky knows all about the 
Big River. In the winter he often gets 
considerable of his food along its banks. 
I’ve been over there a number of times, 
but I don’t know so much about it as 


82 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

he does. Now here is my plan. I’ll 
go find Blacky and tell him all about 
what we want to do for Mrs. Quack. 
Then, when Mrs. Quack comes back to 
the Smiling Pool, if she hasn’t found 
Mr. Quack, we’ll tell her what we are 
going to do and what she must do. 
She must swim right up the Big River, 
keeping out in the middle where she 
will be safe. If there are any hunt- 
ers hiding along the bank, they will 
see her, and then they won’t shoot 
at Blacky or me because they will 
keep hoping that Mrs. Quack will swim 
in near enough for them to shoot her. 
Blacky will fly along over one bank of 
the Big River, and I will do the same 
over the other bank, keeping as nearly 
opposite Mrs. Quack as we can. Being 
up in the air that way and looking 
down, we will be able to see the hunters 
and also Mr. Quack, if he is hiding 


SAMMY’S PLAN TO HELP MRS. QUACK 83 

among the rushes. Are you quite sure 
that Mrs. Quack will come back to the 
Smiling Pool to-night? ” 

“ She said she would,” replied Peter. 
“ Last night she came just a little while 
before dark, and I think she will do the 
same thing to-night, to see if any more 
corn has been left for her. You know 
Farmer Brown’s boy put some there 
yesterday, and it tasted so good to her 
that I don’t believe she will be able to 
stay away, even if she wants to. I 
think your plan is perfectly splendid, 
Sammy Jay. I do hope Blacky the 
Crow will help.” 

‘ 6 He will. Don ’t worry about that, ’ ’ 
replied Sammy. “ Hello! There goes 
Farmer Brown’s boy over to the Smil- 
ing Pool now.” 

“ Then there will be some more com 
for Mrs. Quack. I just know it! ” cried 
Peter. “ He is going to see if Mrs. 


84 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

Quack is there, and I just know he has 
his pockets full of corn.” 

“ I wouldn’t mind a little of it my- 
self,” said Sammy. “ Well, I must go 
along to hunt up Blacky. Good-by, 
Peter.” 

“ Good-by and good luck,” replied 
Peter. “ I’ve always said you are not 
half such a bad fellow as you try to 
make folks think you are, Sammy Jay.” 

“ Thanks,” said Sammy, and started 
for the Green Forest to look for his 
cousin, Blacky the Crow. 


XY 


THE HUNT FOR MR. QUACK 

I N spite of her hopelessness in re- 
gard to Mr. Quack, there is no 
doubt that Mrs. Quack felt better 
that night after she had eaten the corn 
left among the rushes of the Smiling 
Pool by Farmer Brown’s boy. Now 
she had that very comfortable feeling 
that goes with a full stomach, she 
could think better. As the Black 
Shadows crept across the Smiling Pool, 
she turned over in her mind Sammy 
Jay’s plan for helping her the next day. 
The more she thought about it, the 
better it seemed, and she began to feel a 
little ashamed that she had not ap- 
peared more grateful to Sammy when 


86 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

he told her. At the time she had been 
tired and hungry and discouraged. 
Now she was beginning to feel rested, 
and she was no longer hungry. These 
things made all the difference in the 
world. As she thought over Sammy’s 
plan, she began to feel a little hope, and 
when at last she put her head under 
her wing to go to sleep, she had made 
up her mind that the plan was worth 
trying, and that she would do her part. 

Bright and early the next morning, 
Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow were 
in the Big Hickory-tree near the Smil- 
ing Pool ready to start for the Big 
River to hunt for Mr. Quack. Peter 
Rabbit had been so afraid that he would 
miss something that he had stayed near 
the Smiling Pool all night, so he was on 
hand to see the start. 

It had been agreed that Mrs. Quack 
was to go to a certain place on the Big 


THE HUNT FOR MR. QUACK 87 

River and then swim up as far as she 
thought it would be of any use. She 
was to stay in the middle of the river, 
where she would be quite safe from 
hunters with terrible guns, and where 
also these same hunters would be sure 
to see her and so not be tempted to 
shoot at Blacky the Crow if he hap- 
pened to fly over them. You see, they 
would hope that Mrs. Quack would 
swim in near enough to be shot and so 
would not risk frightening her by 
shooting at Blacky. 

When Mrs. Quack had finished her 
breakfast, she started for the Big River, 
and her stout wings moved so swiftly 
that they made a whistling sound. 
Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow fol- 
lowed her, but though they flew as fast 
as they could, Mrs. Quack had reached 
the Big River before they had gone half 
the way. When they did get there, 


1 


88 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

they saw Mrs. Quack out in the middle, 
swimming about and watching for 
them. Blacky flew across the river and 
pretended to be hunting for food along 
the farther bank, just as every hunter 
knows he often does. Sammy Jay did 
the same thing on the other bank. 

Mrs. Quack swam slowly up the Big 
River, keeping in the middle, and 
Blacky and Sammy followed along up 
the two banks, all the time using their 
sharp eyes for all they were worth to 
find Mr. Quack hiding among the 
broken-down rushes or under the 
bushes in the water, for the Big River 
had overflowed its banks, and in some 
places bushes and trees were in the 
water. 

Now Sammy Jay dearly loves to hunt 
for things. Whenever he knows that 
one of his neighbors in the Green 
Forest has hidden something, he likes 


THE HUNT FOR MR. QUACK 89 

to hunt for it. It isn’t so much that he 
wants what has been hidden, as it is 
that he wants to feel he is smart enough 
to find it. When he does find it, he 
usually steals it, I’m sorry to say. 
But it is the fun of hunting that Sammy 
enjoys most. So now Sammy thor- 
oughly enjoyed hunting for Mr. Quack. 
He peered into every likely hiding- 
place and became so interested that he 
quite forgot about the hunters who 
might be waiting along the bank. 

So it happened that he didn’t see a 
boat drawn in among the bushes until 
he was right over it. Sitting in it was 
a man with a terrible gun, very intently 
watching Mrs. Quack out in the middle 
of the Big River. Sammy was so start- 
led that before he thought he opened 
his mouth and screamed “ Thief! thief! 
thief! ” at the top of his lungs, and flew 
away with all his might. Mrs. Quack 


90 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

heard his scream and understood just 
what it meant. 

A little later Blacky the Crow dis- 
covered another hunter hiding behind 
the bushes on his side. “ Caw! caw! 
caw! ” shouted Blacky, flying out over 
the water far enough to be safe from 
that terrible gun he could see. 

“ Quack! quack! ” replied Mrs. 
Quack, which meant that she under- 
stood. And so the hunt went on with- 
out a sign of poor Mr. Quack. 


XVI 


SAMMY JAY SEES SOMETHING GREEN 

F OR all their peeking and peering 
among the broken-down rushes 
and under the bushes along the 
banks of the Big River, and no sharper 
eyes ever peeked and peered, Sammy 
Jay and Blacky the Crow had found no 
sign of the missing Mr. Quack. 

“ I guess Mrs. Quack was right and 
that Mr. Quack was killed when he was 
shot/’ muttered Sammy to himself. 
u Probably one of those hunters had 
him for dinner long ago. Hello ! There’s 
another hunter up where the Laughing 
Brook joins the Big River! I guess I 
won’t take any chances. I’d like to find 
Mr. Quack, but Sammy Jay is a lot more 


92 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

important to me than Mr. Quack, and 
that fellow just might happen to take it 
into his head to shoot at me.” 

So Sammy silently flew around back 
of the hunter and stopped in a tree 
where he could watch all that the man 
did. For some time Sammy sat there 
watching. The hunter was sitting be- 
hind a sort of fence of bushes which 
quite hid him from any one who might 
happen to be out on the Big River. But 
of course Sammy could see him per- 
fectly, because he was behind him. Out 
in front of that little fence, which was 
on the very edge of the water, were a 
number of what Sammy at first took 
to be some of Mrs. Quack’s rela- 
tives. “ Why doesn’t he shoot them? ” 
thought Sammy. He puzzled over this 
as he watched them until suddenly it 
came into his head that he hadn’t seen 
one of them move since he began watch- 


SAMMY SEES SOMETHING GREEN 93 

ing them. The man changed his posi- 
tion, and still those Ducks didn’t move, 
although some of them were so near that 
they simply couldn’t have helped know- 
ing when the hunter moved unless they 
were more stupid than any one of 
Sammy’s acquaintance. 

This was very curious, very curious 
indeed. Sammy flew a little nearer and 
then a little nearer, taking the greatest 
care not to make a sound. Pretty soon 
he was so near that he could see those 
Ducks very plainly, and he stared with 
all his might. He couldn’t see any 
feathers! No, Sir, he couldn’t see any 
feathers ! Then he understood. 

“ Huh! ” said he to himself. “ Those 
are not Ducks at all. They are just 
pieces of wood made to look like Ducks. 
Now I wonder what they are for.” 

In a few minutes he found out. He 
saw the hunter crouch down a little 


94 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

lower and look down the Big River. 
Sammy looked too. He saw a flock of 
real Ducks flying swiftly just above the 
middle of the Big River. Suddenly the 
leader turned straight towards the 
place where the hunter was hiding, and 
the others followed him. He could hear 
Mrs. Quack calling excitedly out in the 
middle of the Big River, but the stran- 
gers did not heed her. They had their 
eyes on those wooden Ducks and were 
coming straight in to join them. 

“ They think they are real Ducks and 
so this place is perfectly safe! ” thought 
Sammy. He saw the hunter make 
ready to shoot with his terrible gun and 
then, without stopping to think what 
might happen to him, he opened his 
mouth and screamed at the top of his 
voice. He saw the Ducks suddenly 
swing out towards the middle of the 
Big River and knew that they had 


SAMMY SEES SOMETHING GREEN 95 

heard his warning. He saw the hunter 
suddenly rise and point his gun at the 
flying Ducks. He heard the bang, bang 
of the terrible gun, but not one of the 
flock was hit. The distance was too 
great. Sammy chuckled happily. Then 
he remembered that he himself was 
within easy reach of that terrible gun, 
and probably the hunter was very 
angry. In great fright Sammy turned 
and flew, dodging behind trees and 
every second expecting to hear again 
the roar of that terrible gun. 

But he didn’t, and so when he 
thought he was safe, he stopped. Now 
in flying away from the hunter he had 
followed the Laughing Brook where it 
winds through a sort of swamp before 
it joins the Big River. Because there 
was more water than could be kept be- 
tween the banks of the Big River, it 
had crept over the banks, and all the 


96 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

trees of the swamp were standing in 
water. Just beyond where Sammy was 
sitting was a pile of brush in the water. 
A Jolly Little Sunbeam, dancing down 
through the tree tops, touched some- 
thing under the edge of the brush, and 
Sammy’s sharp eyes caught a flash of 
green. Idly he watched it, and pres- 
ently it moved. Instantly Sammy was 
all curiosity. He flew over where he 
could see better. 

“ Now what can that be? ” thought 
Sammy, as he peered down at the pile 
of brush and tried to see under it. 


XVH 


MR. QUACK IS FOUND AT LAST 

S AMMY Jay’s eyes sparkled as lie 
watched that spot of green 
under the pile of brush in the 
swamp through which the Laughing 
Brook finds its way to join the Big 
River. All around was water, for you 
know it was spring, and the melting 
snows on the hills way up where the Big 
River has its beginning were pouring 
more water into the Big River t^an its 
banks would hold as it hurried down to 
the Great Ocean. It just couldn’t hurry 
fast enough to take all that water down 
as fast as it ran into the Big River, and 
so the water had crept over the banks 
in places. It had done this right here 


98 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

in the little swamp where Sammy 
was. 

Sammy sat perfectly still, for he 
learned long ago that only by keeping 
perfectly still may one see all that is to 
be seen. That green spot had moved. 
He was sure of that. And if it moved, 
it must be something alive. If it were 
alive, it must be somebody, and Sammy 
wanted to know who it was. Try as he 
would he couldn’t remember any one 
who wore such glossy green as that. So 
he sat perfectly still, for he knew that 
if whoever was hiding under that brush 
should even guess that he was being 
watched, he would not come out. 

So, his eyes sparkling with excite- 
ment, Sammy watched. He was impa- 
tiently patient. Hid you know that it is 
possible to be impatiently patient? 
Well, it is. Sammy was just boiling 
with impatience inside, but he didn’t let 


MR. QUACK IS FOUND AT LAST 99 

that impatience spoil the patience of his 
waiting. He sat there just as still as 
still, with his eyes fixed on that green 
spot, and you would never have guessed 
that he was fairly bursting with impa- 
tience to know who it was he was watch- 
ing. That is what is called self-control. 
It means the power to make yourself do 
a certain thing, no matter how much 
you may want to do something else. It 
is a splendid thing to have, is self- 
control. 

After what seemed to Sammy a very 
long time, the green spot moved again. 
Little by little something reached out 
from under the pile of brush. IJ* was a 
head, a very beautiful green head, and 
it was exactly like Mrs. Quack’s head, 
only hers was a sober brown instead of 
green. Sammy choked back a little 
gasp of surprise as a sudden thought 
popped into his head. Could this be the 


100 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

lost Mr. Quack? He had forgotten that 
probably Mr. Quack dressed differently 
from Mrs. Quack, and so of course he 
had been looking for some one all in 
brown. 

There was the bang of a gun some- 
where over on the Big River, and the 
green head was hastily withdrawn 
under the bush, but not before Sammy 
had seen a look of terrible fear in his 
eyes. “ I believe it is Mr. Quack! ” 
thought Sammy. “ If it is, I ? ll have the 
best news ever to tell Mrs. Quack. Just 
trust Sammy Jay to find anything he 
goes looking for.” 

This was just plain boasting, and 
Sammy knew it. But Sammy always 
does have a good opinion of himself. It 
is one of his faults. He quite lost sight 
of the fact that it was entirely by acci- 
dent that he had come over to this 
swamp. Now that he had guessed who 



i c 


Yes,” said lie in a low voice, 

Page 101. 


C C 


I am Mr. Quack. 





t 


MR. QUACK IS FOUND AT LAST 101 

this might be, he was less impatient. 
He waited as still as you please, and 
at last the green head was slowly 
stretched out again, and Sammy could 
see that the neck was green, too, and 
that around the neck was a white 
collar. Sammy could keep still no 
longer. 

“ Are you Mr. Quack? ” he asked 
eagerly. 

The beautiful head disappeared like 
a flash. Sammy waited a minute or two, 
before he repeated his question, adding: 
“ You needn’t be afraid. There isn’t 
anybody here but me, and I’m your 
friend. I just want to know if you are 
Mr. Quack because I’ve been looking 
for you for Mrs. Quack. Are you? ” 

Slowly, looking this way and that 
way with fear and suspicion in his eyes, 
a handsome Duck came out from under 
the pile of brush. “ Yes,” said he in a 


102 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

low voice, “ I am Mr. Quack. Where 
is Mrs. Quack? ” 

“ Safe and sound over on the Big 
Biver,” replied Sammy joyfully. “ Oh, 
I’m so glad I’ve found you! ” 


xvm 


SAMMY JAY SENDS MRS. QUACK TO THE 
SWAMP 

W HEN Sammy Jay left Mr. 

Quack in the swamp over by 
the bank of the Big River, be 
flew straight back to the Smiling Pool. 
At first he thought of flying out over 
the Big River and screaming the news 
to Mrs. Quack, who, you know, was 
swimming about out there. But he 
knew that if he did, she would very 
likely fly right over where Mr. Quack 
was, and that wouldn’t do at all. No, 
indeed, that wouldn’t do at all. One of 
the hunters would be sure to see her. 
So Sammy wisely flew back to the Smil- 
ing Pool to wait until Mrs. Quack 
should come back there for the night. 


104 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

Of course lie told Peter Rabbit all 
about Mr. Quack, and Peter was so de- 
lighted at the thought that Mr. Quack 
was alive that he capered about in quite 
the craziest way. “ Does Mrs. Quack 
know yet? ” asked Peter. 

Sammy shook his head. “ I’m going 
to tell her when she comes back here 
to-night,” he explained. “ I was afraid 
if I told her before then she would fly 
straight to him and perhaps get them 
both in trouble.” 

“ Quite right, Sammy! Quite right! ” 
Peter exclaimed. “ I wouldn’t have 
thought of that. My, won’t she be 
happy when you do tell her! I wonder 
what she’ll say and what she’ll do. I’m 
going to stay right here so as to see her 
when she hears the good news. Here 
comes your cousin, Blacky the Crow. 
Does he know yet? ” 

“ No,” replied Sammy, “ but I’m 


MRS. QUACK SENT TO THE SWAMP 105 

going to tell him as soon as he gets 
here.” They watched Blacky draw 
nearer and nearer, and as soon as he 
was within hearing Sammy shouted the 
news. “ Caw, caw, caw,” replied 
Blacky, hurrying a little faster. 

As soon as he reached the Big Hick- 
ory-tree, Sammy told the whole story 
over again, and Blacky was quite as 
glad as the others. While they waited 
for Mrs. Quack he told how he had 
hunted and hunted along the farther 
bank of the Big River and how he had 
seen the hunters with their terrible 
guns hiding and had warned Mrs. 
Quack just where each one was. 

Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was getting 
ready to go to bed behind the Purple 
Hills and the Black Shadows were be- 
ginning to creep out over the Green 
Meadows before Mrs. Quack came. In 
fact, Sammy Jay and Blacky were get- 


106 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

ting very uneasy. It was almost bed- 
time for them, for neither of them dared 
stay out after dark. They had almost 
made up their minds to leave Peter to 
tell the news when they saw Mrs. Quack 
coming swiftly from the direction of 
the Big River. She looked so sad and 
discouraged that even Blacky the Crow 
was sorry for her, and you know Blacky 
isn’t much given to such feelings. 

“ What’s the news, Mrs. Quack? ” 
asked Peter, his eyes dancing. 

“ There isn’t any,” replied Mrs. 
Quack. 

“ Oh, yes, there is! ” cried Sammy 
Jay, who couldn’t possibly keep still 
any longer. 

“ What is it? ” demanded Mrs. Quack 
eagerly, and it seemed to Peter that 
there was a wee bit of hope in her voice. 

“ Did you happen to notice that just 
before the Laughing Brook joins the 


MRS. QUACK SENT TO THE SWAMP 107 

Big River it flows through a little 
swamp? ” asked Sammy. 

Mrs. Quack nodded her head rapidly. 
“ What of it? ” she demanded. 

u Nothing much, only if I were you I 
would go down there after dark,” re- 
plied Sammy. 

Mrs. Quack looked up at Sammy 
sharply. “ Why should I go down 
there? ” she asked. 

“ If I tell you, will you wait until I 
get quite through? ” asked Sammy in 
his turn. 

Mrs. Quack promised that she would. 

“’Well, then,” replied Sammy, u this 
afternoon f found a stranger hiding in 
there, a stranger with a beautiful green 
head and neck and a white collar.” 

“ Mr. Quack! Oh, it was Mr. 
Quack! ” cried Mrs. Quack joyfully and 
lifted her wings as if she would start 
for the swamp at once. 


108 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

“ Stop! ” cried Sammy sharply. 
“ You said you would wait until I am 
through. It won’t do for you to go 
there until after dark, because there is 
a hunter hiding very near Mr. Quack’s 
hiding-place. Wait until it is dark and 
he has gone home. Then take my ad- 
vice, and when you have found Mr. 
Quack, bring him right up here to the 
Smiling Pool. He can’t fly, but he can 
swim up the Laughing Brook, and this 
is the safest place for both of you. Now 
good night and good luck.” 


XIX 

JERRY MUSKRAT’S GREAT IDEA 

A friendly friend is a friend indeed 
When he proves a friend in the time of need. 

M R. and Mrs. Quack had been so 
much taken up with each 
other and with their troubles 
that they had quite forgotten they were 
not alone in the Smiling Pool, which 
they had reached by swimming up the 
Laughing Brook. So it happened that 
when Mrs. Quack suggested that if Mr. 
Quack’s wing got strong they might be 
able to find a lonesome pond not' too far 
away where they could make their home 
for the summer, they were a little start- 
led to hear a voice say: “ I know where 


110 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

there is one, and you will not have to fly 
at all to get to it.” Both jumped a 
little. You see their nerves had been 
very much upset for a long time, and the 
least unexpected thing made them 
jump. Then both laughed. 

4 4 Hello, Jerry Muskrat! We’d for- 
gotten all about you,” said Mrs. Quack. 
“ What was that you said? ” 

Jerry good-naturedly repeated what 
he had said. Mrs. Quack’s face bright- 
ened. “ Do you really mean it? ” she 
asked eagerly. “ Do you really mean 
that you know of a pond where we 
could live and not be likely to be seen 
by these two-legged creatures called 
men? ” 

“ That’s what I said,” replied Jerry 
briefly. 

“ Oh, Jerry, you’re not joking, are 
you? Tell me you’re not joking,” 
begged Mrs. Quack. 


JERRY MUSKRAT’S GREAT IDEA m 

“ Of course I’m not joking,” re- 
turned Jerry just a little bit indig- 
nantly. “ I am not the kind of a fel- 
low to joke people who are in such 
trouble as you and Mr. Quack seem to 
be in. The idea came to me while you 
were talking. I couldn’t help overhear- 
ing what you were saying, and the min- 
ute you mentioned a lonesome pond, 
the idea came to me, and I think it’s a 
perfectly splendid idea. I know of just 
the lonesomest kind of a lonesome 
pond, and you won’t have to fly a stroke 
to get to it. If you are smart enough 
not to be caught by Reddy Fox or 
Hooty the Owl or Billy Mink or any 
of those people who hunt for a living, 
there isn’t any reason I know of why 
you shouldn’t spend the summer there 
in peace and comfort.” 

Mrs. Quack’s eyes fairly shone with 
hope and eagerness. “ Oh, Jerry, tell 


112 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

us where it is, and we ? ll start for it 
right away! ” she cried. 

Jerry’s eyes twinkled. “ Of course, 
the owner of that pond might not like 
to have neighbors. I hadn’t thought 
of that,” said he. “ Perhaps he ought 
to be asked first.” 

Mrs. Quack’s face fell. “ Who is the 
owner? ” she asked. 

“ My cousin, Paddy the Beaver. He 
made it,” replied Jerry proudly. 

Mrs. Quack’s face lighted up again 
at once. “ I’m sure he won’t object,” 
said she. “ We know a great many of 
the Beaver family. In fact, they are 
very good neighbors of ours in our 
home in the far Northland. I didn’t 
suppose there was a Beaver pond any- 
where around here. Tell me where it 
is, Jerry, and I’ll go right up there and 
call on your cousin.” 

“ All you’ve got to do is to follow 


JERRY MUSKRAT’S GREAT IDEA 113 

the Laughing Brook way back into the 
Green Forest, and you’ll come to 
Paddy’s pond,” said he. “ He made 
that pond himself two years ago. He 
came down from the Great Woods and 
built a dam across the Laughing Brook 
way back there in the Green Forest and 
gave us a great scare here in the Smil- 
ing Pool by cutting off the water for a 
few days. He has got a very nice pond 
there now. Honker the Goose and his 
flock spent a night in it on their way 
south last fall.” 

Mrs. Quack waited to hear no more. 
She shot up into the air and disap- 
peared over the tops of the trees in 
the Green Forest. 

“ What do you think of my idea? ” 
asked Jerry, as he and Mr. Quack 
watched her out of sight. 

“ I think it is great, just simply 
great,” replied Mr. Quack. 


XX 


HAPPY DAYS FOR MR. AND MRS. QUACK 

Whose heart is true and brave and strong, 
Who ne’er gives up to grim despair, 

Will find some day that skies are blue 
And all the world is bright and fair. 

I F you don’t believe it, just ask Mr. 
and Mrs. Quack. They know. 
Certainly the world never looked 
darker for any one than it did for them 
when the terrible gun of a hunter broke 
Mr. Quack’s wing on the Big River and 
ended all their dreams of a home in the 
far Northland. Then, through the help 
of Jerry Muskrat, they found the lonely 
pond of Paddy the Beaver deep in the 
Green Forest, and there, because their 
secret had been well kept, presently 
they found peace and hope and then 


HAPPY DAYS FOR THE QUACKS 115 

happiness. You see, the heart of Mrs. 
Quack was true and brave and strong. 
She was the kind to make the best of 
things, and she at once decided that if 
they couldn’t have their home where 
they wanted it, they would have it 
where they could have it. She was de- 
termined that they should have a home 
anyway, and Paddy the Beaver’s little 
pond was not such a bad place after all. 

So she wasted no time. She ex- 
amined every inch of the shore of that 
little pond. At last, a little back from 
the water, she found a place to suit her, 
a place so well hidden by bushes that 
only the sharpest eyes ever would find 
it. And a little later it would be still 
harder to find, as she well knew, for all 
about clumps of tall ferns were spring- 
ing up, and when they had fully un- 
folded, not even the keen eyes of 
Sammy Jay looking down from a 


116 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

near-by tree would be able to discover 
her secret. There she made a nest on the 
ground, a nest of dried grass and leaves, 
and lined it with the softest and most 
beautiful of linings, down plucked from 
her own breast. In it she laid ten eggs. 
Then came long weeks of patient sit- 
ting on them, watching the wonder of 
growing things about her, the bursting 
into bloom of shy wood flowers, the un- 
folding of leaves on bush and tree, the 
springing up in a night of queer mush- 
rooms, which people call toadstools, and 
all the time dreaming beautiful Duck 
dreams of the babies which would one 
day hatch from those precious eggs. 
She never left them save to get a little 
food and just enough exercise to keep 
her well and strong, and when she did 
leave them, she always carefully pulled 
soft down over them to keep them warm 
while she was away. 


HAPPY DAYS FOR THE QUACKS 117 

Mr. Quack knew all about that nest, 
though he had taken no part in build- 
ing it and had no share in the care of 
those eggs. He was very willing that 
she should do all the work and thought 
it quite sufficient that he should be on 
guard to give warning if danger should 
appear. So he spent the long beautiful 
days lazily swimming about in the little 
pond, gossiping with Paddy the Beaver, 
and taking the best of care of himself. 
The broken wing healed and grew 
strong again, for it had not been so 
badly broken, after all. If he missed 
the company of others of his kind 
which he would have had during these 
long days of waiting had they been able 
to reach their usual nesting-place in the 
far Northland, he never mentioned it. 

Unknown to them, Farmer Brown’s 
boy discovered where they were. Later 
he came often to the pond and was con- 


118 ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 

tent to sit quietly on the shore and 
watch Mr. Quack, so that Mr. Quack 
grew quite used to him and did not fear 
him at all. In fact, after the first few 
times, he made no attempt to hide. You 
see he discovered that Farmer Brown’s 
boy was a friend. Always after he had 
left, there was something good to eat 
near where he had been sitting, for 
Farmer Brown’s boy brought corn and 
oats and sometimes a handful of wheat. 

He knew, and Mr. Quack knew that 
he knew, that somewhere near was a 
nest, but he did not try to find it much 
as he longed to, for he knew that would 
frighten and worry Mrs. Quack. So the 
dear, precious secret of Mr. and Mrs. 
Quack was kept, for not even Paddy the 
Beaver knew just where that nest was, 
and in due time, early one morning, 
Mrs. Quack proudly led forth for their 
first swim ten downy, funny ducklings. 



Those were happy days indeed for Mr. and Mrs 
Quack in the pond of Paddy the Beaver. Page 119 





























































































































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HAPPY DAYS FOR THE QUACKS 119 

Ok, those were happy days indeed for 
Mr. and Mrs. Quack in the pond of 
Paddy the Beaver, and in their joy they 
quite forgot for a time the terrible jour- 
ney which had brought them there. But 
finally the Ducklings grew up, and 
when Jack Frost came in the fall, the 
whole family started on the long jour- 
ney to the sunny Southland. I hope 
they got there safely, don’t you? 

Among those whom Mr. and Mrs. 
Quack came to know very well while 
they lived in the pond of Paddy the 
Beaver was that funny fellow who 
wears rings on his tail— Bobby Coon. 
In the next book I will tell you of some 
of Bobby’s adventures. 


THE END 































































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